Elevator Speech

I talked with my daughter and her Orientation and Mobility teacher the other day during their video call.   I told him I had explained to other children in the past what her cane was for and the way I explained it bothered my daughter.   I asked if he had any advice.

He told me he always let the student explain if they wanted to, but in many cases, they fell silent.   What I had been saying was that my daughter's cane helped her find things she couldn't see because she didn't have the same vision they did.   She used the cane to locate obstacles so she could safely move around them.

He said his answer was always about what the cane did, not what the student couldn't do.   He would say the cane helped find things so my daughter could move around them safely.   If they asked follow-on questions, then he would explain more, but that more often than not, that's all the child wanted to know.

I talked to my daughter about it later.  Both Mr. Adam and I had explained that other children were fascinated with the cane and wanted to know how it worked.   Then I asked my daughter what she would say if someone asked her.   She told me she would say, "Excuse me, I am half blind and I need it so I don't bump into things."

I asked her if I could say those same words if she didn't want to talk at the time.   She said I could, but, "Momma, be sure you say, 'excuse me' first."

We had another conversation about what she and I could say if someone was talking to her and didn't realize she was blind.  Say, for instance, if they wanted to show her something.   She said she would say, "Excuse me, I am half blind, so I can not see what you are showing me.   Can you explain?"

Now I have approved elevator speeches with words my daughter doesn't mind me saying.   She didn't want to talk about this for a long while.  I'm glad she told me because I hated upsetting her by saying what I thought was best.

The Big Boy Update:  My son had an art assignment to do this week, drawing a Picasso-styled picture of himself.  This is what he drew:



The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter loves to get on the swing out in the back yard, place the phone on the picnic bench and sing at the top of her lungs while Mimi listens on the other end.  My mother sent me an email with some of the words my daughter was singing yesterday: "I love this swing.  It is my special swing.  I would cry if this swing were ever taken down."  My mother told her she was very creative in her songs.  My daughter replied back, "it's not me, it's the swing."